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Elementary School Safety Day.
The Westport Police Union served over 500 hamburgers and hotdogs
to students and staff.
EverythingWestport.com
Friday,
June 1, 2018
Photos
courtesy of the Westport Police and EverythingWestport.com
Click on image to enlarge. Photo | EverythingWestport.com
In today’s busy and sometimes chaotic world, children can never be too
safe. Fulltime working couples and single-parent family homes are
hard-pressed to be there when emergencies threaten their children.
Enter the town’s safety departments.
“The Westport Police Department
hosted Safety Day for the Westport Elementary School students on Wednesday,
May 30th from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on the sports fields of the old Middle
School. The event was largely supported by the Westport Fire Department, with
the town’s police and fire joined by the Dartmouth Police K9
Unit, Massachusetts State Police and Westport Call Firefighters.” - Detective Jeff Majewski
Grades 3 through 6 attended the event which was held on the grounds of
the now abandoned Middle School. The
weather was perfect for  outside fun which included a presentation
from a police motorcycle officer about seat belt safety and improper driving,
a dynamic presentation by the State Police who explained and demonstrated the
results of a roll-over crash on a vehicle simulator, a presentation from
Westport Police about the dangers of impaired driving with blurred vision
goggles and golf carts while driving through an obstacle course, a
presentation on gun safety and the dangers of firearms.
The presentations then turned toward the fire department that went
through the steps involved when an ambulance is called to a scene and someone
is in need of medical help. The Fire
Department also had a demonstration on how to properly use a fire
extinguisher.
The Dartmouth K9 Unit put on a presentation
with the help of other Dartmouth Police Officers. The K9 Unit
demonstrated the abilities of a drug sniffing dog alerting on drugs inside a
vehicle. They also put on a display
where a suspect was combative and police used the help of their canine
partner to subdue the suspect. Kids
cheered during that time when each highly trained police dog controlled the
suspect by biting into a bite suit worn by Dartmouth Police volunteers.
The Westport Police Union served over 500 hamburgers and hotdogs to
students and staff. Boxes of popsicles
also went fast along with water during the sunny event.
A highlight of the event was the Fire Department’s ladder truck which
is about 95 feet tall along with a Jaws of Life demonstration conducted by
several firefighters to show the dangers of car crashes.
According to Detective
Majewski, Westport Police Sergeant Tom Plourde
coordinated the event with the assistance of several officers. Both the Police and Firefighter Unions
donated resources to the event as well which included a raffle. Two iPads, and
several area gift cards were given to lucky students after the event. Raffle items also included gift
certificates from local businesses such as the Head Store and Village Pizza.
Police believe positive interaction with kids at an early age is
crucial to help kids understand the many dangers in society some of which can
be avoided by thinking safe and acting responsible.
ELJ’s plans approved for 16-lot subdivision.
The Rhode Island development
company was charged with desecrating a small ancient cemetery off Charlotte
White Road in 2004.
EverythingWestport.com
Sunday, June 3, 2018
 By
Robert Barboza
Special Correspondent to EverythingWestport.com
The Rhode Island development company charged with desecrating a small ancient
cemetery off Charlotte White Road in 2004 recently received Planning Board approval
to construct a 16-lot subdivision in the same neighborhood.
At the end of a May 15 public hearing on an Open Space Residential
Development (OSRD) subdivision plan filed by ELJ, Inc. of Bristol, Rhode Island, the board approved
the requested 16 lots laid out along a curving cul-de-sac accessed from
Charlotte White Road.
No mention was made of the 2004 incident, where ELJ
owner Everett Francis and two of his children were charged with removing as
many as 20 unmarked fieldstones marking burial sites in the neighboring woods
off Charlotte White Road, raising an uproar by local
historical preservation advocates.
The cemetery, originally said
to be a horse burial site, was later proven to contain human remains.
The suspected headstones were recovered by Westport police next to a
stone crusher at the company’s Bristol, Rhode Island headquarters, and returned
to Westport.
ELJ representatives claimed that the previous
owner of the land had told them that the uninscribed stones marked a “horse
cemetery” but local historians said the site was more likely an unmarked
burial ground for Native Americans, Quakers or slaves dating back to the 1800s.
The charges were dropped a year later, however, after the Rhode Island
company agreed to fund an archeological survey of the burial site that
discovered eight grave sites and human remains. The non-prosecution agreement
also included a promise to the Mass. Historical Commission to protect the
cemetery site from future development.
Among the conditions added to the OSRD
development plans were a requirement that a permanent buffer zone be
established between the cemetery site on the property, and any new homes
built. “The small cemetery is historic, and should have a buffer zone around
it,” was the recommendation from Town Planner James Hartnett.
ELJ representatives indicated that a deed
restriction offering permanent protection to the burial ground will be added
to the lots closest to the cemetery, which is protected by a stone wall.
Planning Board member Robert Daylor politely
suggested that some of the small trees surrounding the cemetery also be
maintained as an additional buffer to the site.
Temporarily held up by the board on May 15 was an accompanying special
permit for the project, required under the town’s exclusionary housing bylaw.
In exchange for slightly higher density than allowed under regular zoning
regulations, the developer will sell two of the planned homes as affordable
housing units to buyers of low or median income.
The OSRD configuration for the neighborhood
allows for smaller house lots, with the unused portion of the site to be kept
as open space for the enjoyment of residents. Lot sizes were increased
slightly in the latest configuration of the proposed lots, noted ELJ consulting engineer Michael Russell of Site Design
Engineering.
Earlier in the meeting, the Planning Board also approved two new house
lots on the west side of Main Road on land also owned by ELJ,
Inc. Those two 60,000 square foot lots were created from a single large
parcel under a separate ANR (subdivision approval
not required) plan because they met regular frontage and upland area
requirements.
The OSRD plan for 16 lots has been
undergoing review and revisions since December of 2017, with the final set of
tweaks to the plan ordered to address concerns raised by the Conservation
Commission and the Planning Board’s consulting engineer’s review of the
project.
ELJ has proposed using a collective
nitrogen-reducing sewer treatment system for the development, and is planning
to collect surface water in a grassy swale leading to an existing small pond
and a new man-made retention pond.
A short walking trail leading to the ponds and a cemetery site on Main
Road near the corner of Charlotte White Road is also planned for the 31.6
acre site. The Planning Board is also requiring a tall vegetated screen to be
installed along the western boundary line, screening the proposed homes from
an adjoining junkyard.
A homeowner’s association will have to be established so that
residents of the private roadway can finance future road and storm drain
system maintenance, and fund any necessary maintenance and testing of the
joint septic treatment system to be installed.
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